Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Dahlia variabilis cultivar Dahlstar Burgundy Improved.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia variabilis, commercially referred to as a pot-type Dahlia, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Dahlstar Burgundy Improved.
The new Dahlia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Mariahout, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new pot-type Dahlia cultivars with desirable inflorescence form and attractive ray floret coloration.
The new Dahlia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 1998 of a proprietary Dahlia variabilis selection identified as code number 95.1455, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary Dahlia variabilis selection identified as code number 97.2822, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dahlia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Mariahout, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Mariahout, The Netherlands in 1998. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Dahlstar Burgundy Improved has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and daylength, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Dahlstar Burgundy Improvedxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Dahlstar Burgundy Improvedxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct pot-type Dahlia:
1. Upright and compact plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit, full and dense plants.
3. Semi-double type inflorescences.
4. Dark red purple-colored ray florets with bright yellow-colored disc florets.
Compared to plants of the female parent, the selection 95.1455, plants of the new Dahlia are larger, have darker-colored ray florets and flower earlier. Compared to plants of the male parent, the selection 97.2822, plants of the new Dahlia are more compact, have darker-colored ray florets and flower earlier.
Plants of the new Dahlia can be compared to plants of the Dahlia cultivar Dahlstar Burgundy, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,715. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Dahlia flowered earlier, had a more uniform plant habit and had more intense dark purple-colored ray florets.